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Still looking for the perfect Christmas gift for the avid inspirational reader in your life? You may want to check out: Take The Lid Off from Christian Musician, and now Pastor Smokie Norful. His music is beautiful, the book is one to add to your library. It is a guide to help one to go from one level to the next.

About the book:

When the pressure of life seems to boil over – and it does for everyone – Pastor and Grammy-winning musician Smokie Norful has one piece of advice: take the lid off. This concept was inspired by watching his grandmother make her signature dish of sweet rice. When the heat got too high, the pot began hissing and boiling over, like it was about to explode and create panic. His Grandmother would remind him the only way to avoid an eruption is to remove the lid. Like that pot of rice, the only way to avoid an emotional overload is to take our own lids off — that is, to stop being trapped inside ourselves and instead look to God and his grace to show us the strategy that makes us all he intends us to be, and serve him in the way he has called us to.

This is the premise behind Norful’s new book Take the Lid Off: Trust God, Release the Pressure, and Find the Life He Wants for You (Thomas Nelson, September 17, 2017). In Take the Lid Off, Norful — who is the founder and pastor of Victory Cathedral Worship Center, a congregation of 5,000 members with three campuses in the Chicagoland area — outlines four steps to take to relieving the pressure and drawing closer to God in the process:

Look Inward, experiencing the cleansing of forgiveness and the power of God

Look Outward, seeking for others to experience the joy of living for God and have the best God has to offer

Look Upward and marvel at God’s love and strength to accomplish his purposes

Move Onward, devising a strategy to accomplish all God has put in our hearts to do

All 4 of these sections are very important, but nowadays most seem to be so me centered that we miss what is going on in front of us and the opportunities to help others. We are not here on this Earth just for me, mine and ours. What about them, theirs and those?

As long as you have breath, there is always a chance to do and be better. Why not chose that today?